The present invention relates to a method of producing bread (yeast bread) which contains an oligosaccharide functioning to promote the growth of Bifidobacterium bacteria and which has good taste and good preservability.
In recent years, various oligosaccharides, which are useful as substances for promoting growth of the Bifidobacterium bacteria that live in the human intestines and that are useful bacteria, have been employed significantly in the field of foods. In the area of bread, a method of producing bread containing oligosaccharides has been proposed in which fructooligosaccharide is mixed in the materials used for producing bread (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 96942/1986 and 231992/1986, U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,898 and so forth). Fructooligosaccharide is an oligosaccharide in which 1 to 3 molecules of fructose connect with the fructose residue of sucrose (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 96942/1986).
Since fructooligosaccharide is, however, a saccharide which is assimilated by normal bread yeasts and is thus decomposed in the process of fermentation, it does not remain in products even if it is mixed with the materials used for producing by normal methods. Thus, conventional methods of producing bread containing an oligosaccharide using fructooligosaccharide must employ a special bread yeast which does not decompose fructooligosaccharide (refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 96982/1986). Conventional methods, therefore, have a problem in that the process of production is inevitably changed to a large extent.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of producing bread containing an oligosaccharide which can be used with a normal bread yeast.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of producing bread containing an oligosaccharide and having good taste and preservability using a normal bread yeast.